The acoustic codes “exoticize” the image allowing the spectator to “buy into” the apparent authenticity of a foreign locale. Sheppard stated that the soundtrack is a pivotal element in signaling the foreignness of cinematic locations since musical cues often come before the images enhancing the realistic effects of the film. Gaudin also emphasized that in both cycles, an embedded position of US professionals over the foreign landscape and ambiguous or critical comments over a highly mediated reality are evident.ģ On the second day, the keynote address “Compelled by the Primitive in Cinematic Dance” was given by Pr. W. Anthony Sheppard (Williams College, Massachusetts), who offered an analysis of the importance of musical connotations to express exotic places and peoples. This aspect is also highlighted through sounds and musical scores. While the journalist’s gaze is often problematized, the “entrepreneur films” as Gaudin calls them, usually show a lack of sensitivity and compassion in the face of war presented in purely economic terms. By contrast, films made in the first two decades of the twenty-first century- Lord of War (Andrew Niccol 2005), War Dog s (Todd Phillips 2016), Gold (Stephen Gaghan 2016), American Made (Doug Liman 2017)-are based on much more cynical characters who demonstrate a high degree of criticism against US foreign policies. The journalist appears as a figure in between, not fully glorified nor completely vilified, sometimes a detached and opportunistic figure, at other times a nostalgic idealist, often powerless when faced with the catastrophic proportions of inhumane violence. Gaudin argued that these films are interested in exposing the centrality of the subjective gaze of US journalists on foreign landscapes gazes that are associated with overhead views of the sordid, chaotic, violent character of wars in these countries. He first analyzed The Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir 1982), Under Fire (Roger Spottiswood 1983), The Killing Fields (Roland Joffé 1984), Salvador (Oliver Stone 1986), and War Zone (Nathaniel Gutman 1987), movies that revolve around American journalists covering wars. Antoine Gaudin (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3) opened the conference with the keynote address “From the Reporter to the Entrepreneur: Evolution of the ‘American hero’ Profile in Countries at War Between 19.” Gaudin applied a cultural approach to space, presenting a change in sensitivity, engagement, and aesthetic appreciation of landscape in films representing conflicts and wars in developing countries. The conference touched on all of them, dealing with transnational exchanges, co-productions, hybridization, censorship and geopolitical diplomacy, practices of space, music, performance, and global reception.Ģ On the first day, Dr.
America elsewhere professional#
With themes such as mobility, exile, wandering, tourism, romance, and personal or professional trips pervading the American screen, new questions have become central at many levels: cultural, political, social, economic, and aesthetic. If such aspects implied a commitment to faithfulness in the representation of the others, stereotypical and biased portrayals have remained, to a certain extent, intact. In the postwar period the practice of location shooting increased, therefore corroborating exoticism, voyeuristic impulses, realistic effects, a sense of authenticity, and raising issues related to compositional conventions.
America elsewhere movie#
There is a long tradition in the history of Hollywood that demonstrates its interest in using fake movie sets, rear projections, and matte painting that give the impression of visiting a foreign land to a motionless audience. The conference aimed to explore how the American cinema has created the illusion of foreign places, landscapes, and cities.
It included six panels and two plenary lectures by Dr. Antoine Gaudin (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3) and Pr. W. Anthony Sheppard (Williams College, Massachusetts). The conference was postponed due to the Covid‑19 pandemic and finally took place on-site save for a Japanese speaker who did her presentation via Zoom. 1 Sponsored by the SERCIA (Société d’études et de recherche sur le cinéma anglophone), a society founded in 1993 to gather researchers in the field of English-speaking cinema, and now television, and by the research working group “Textes et cultures,” the international conference “Elsewhere from an American Perspective: Foreign Places in American Cinema” was held on May 5 th and 6 th, 2022 at the Maison de la recherche on the university campus of Arras.
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